Before Happily Ever After
by Jasmine2
Summary: This is a crossover with Angel. Jarod is about to meet his family, the Centre shows up, and he tells them to back off.


BEFORE HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
  
DISCLAIMER: THESE CHARACTERS ARE NOT MINE. THE "ANGEL" PEOPLE BELONG TO JOSS WHEDON AND THE WB. AND THE "PRETENDER" PEOPLE BELONG TO THE TNT NETWORK AND WHOEVER THOUGHT UP OF THE SHOW.\ NOTE: THIS IS A LONG STORY THAT SPANS ONLY A FEW HOURS OF A DAY. THIS IS ONE OF MY FIRST STORIES SO PLEASE BE KIND! SUMMARY: JAROD HAS A SECRET AND HIS FAMILY AND THE Centre find it out the usual way.the hard way!  
  
+MONDAY-9:00 A.M.+ Today was the day. He was finally going to be reunited with his family and his girlfriend, Zoe!  
  
He was happy, he was nervous, he was. scared shitless!  
  
Every thought kept bringing him back to the last time he was going to be able to finally meet his mother. The happiness that was destroyed once again by the Centre. But this time would be different. This time his family was going to stay together, he was going to make sure of it.  
  
The only sad part of this whole reunion was Kyle, his little brother. How he wished his brother could be here with him to meet the mother and father he never got the chance to know.  
  
He glanced at the clock on the nightstand, 9:00 A.M., 8 more hours to go. He was meeting them at 5:00P.M. at the Hyperion Hotel in Los Angeles. He knew the Hyperion was a safe place to hold this little reunion of theirs.  
  
A table would be set up in the courtyard with food, drinks and a white lace tablecloth on it. As well as unlit candles in tall crystal holders. +4:00 P.M.+ The hours went by slowly but Jarod was ok with that. He had waited over 30 years for this moment, what was another hour going to do.  
  
"You're starting to act like Angel," Cordelia, a seer that worked for Angel Investigations, said. She had been watching him from the stairs for the past 10-15 minutes.  
  
Jarod spun around shocked. "You scared me! How long have you been standing there?" he asked.  
  
"Not long," she replied.  
  
"What do you mean I'm starting to act like Angel?"  
  
"You were brooding!"  
  
"Oh, just nervous I guess. I want tonight to be perfect. No sweepers, no demons, just me, my family and my friends." Jarod said in a hopeful voice.  
  
"It will. And if it isn't, then we'll deal with it like we always do, together!" Cordy explained as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Now help me get this place cleaned up. The last thing I want to do is to try to explain to your family why there is green slime everywhere." She laughed as she tried to ease the tension.  
  
Jarod took a look around and grinned as he said, "I think that would be an excellent idea!"  
  
A large SUV drove down the road carrying 6 anxious, but quiet, people.  
  
"Charles slow down. You're going to get us pulled over." The woman in the passenger seat told the driver.  
  
"Sorry. I guess the thought of me, you, Emily, Ethan, Travis, Zoe and Jarod all being together has turned my foot into lead." Charles, Jarod's father said apologetically to his wife, Margaret.  
  
"Dad, we're all anxious to see Jarod, but I'm sure that it would take all of the emotional sting out of it if we were to meet him in a police station." Emily joked.  
  
"Ok, Ok," Charles laughed, "I'll stay close to the speed limit."  
  
"Thank You!" everyone said in unison.  
  
They all laughed and the rest of the trip to the hotel was just as silent as it had been when they had started the trip to L.A. from San Francisco.  
  
+5:00 P.M.-HYPERION HOTEL+ Jarod was in Angel's room getting ready for when his family arrived. They had gotten a last minute case and the shirt and pants that Jarod was wearing had gotten ruined, so he was borrowing a red button down shirt and a pair of black pants from Angel (even though they were a little too big).  
  
He was going to wait in Angel's room until his family got there knowing that if he actually waited for them in the lobby, he would be poking his head out of the door every 2 seconds to see if they were coming.  
  
A few seconds after he was finally re-dressed, Jarod had started pacing the length of the room listening intently for Cordelia to call him.  
  
"Will you please stop pacing," Angel asked, "You're starting to make me dizzy."  
  
"Sorry." Jarod answered as he sat down on Angel's bed.  
  
"Hey don't worry about it," Angel said as he walked over to sit next to Jarod. "Every thing is going to be all right. I promise you that."  
  
"What if something goes wrong? What if Lyle has already found us and is on his way here right now with a team of sweepers? What if .." Jarod's freaking-out babbling was interrupted by Angel. "JAROD!!! KNOCK IT OFF! EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE JUST FINE!" Angel said in a loud but reassuring voice.  
  
Jarod just sighed, bent his head down and closed his eyes. Angel moved behind him and, with his legs on either side of Jarod's, began to slowly massage his shoulders and upper back.  
  
"Just think about how happy you are going to be once you get to see your family. Leave all of the unnecessary details to me. Ok?" Angel said trying to calm Jarod down.  
  
Jarod just shook his head up and down and let Angel give him a massage and calm him down.  
  
It was 5:05 P.M. when the SUV, carrying Jarod's family, had arrived. They all got out quickly and started walking to the door to the Hyperion Hotel together, the hotel that held their son, brother and friend..Jarod.  
  
Travis, Jarod's clone, opened the door and held it open for the rest of his family. On the outside he looked calm and collected, but on the inside, his mind was racing. He thought back to the first time he had seen Jarod. It was at Donaterase and he and some of the Centre workers were about to take him to the Centre when Jarod and Major Charles had turned around to the sound of opening doors. He would never forget the shocked look on Jarod's face when he saw him.  
  
When they were all finally in the hotel, a tall Englishman named Wesley greeted them. "Hello. My name is Wesley Whendom Price. You must be Jarod's family," He said to them.  
  
"Yes we are. Is he here? Where is he?" Margaret asked impatiently.  
  
"Margaret, calm down." Charles said to his wife.  
  
"Hang on a sec," Wes told the group. He turned around and said, "Cordy, can you go get Jarod.tell him his family's here!" He noticed how uneasy everyone was and decided to break the ice a little. "Would you like to sit down?" he asked.  
  
"Sure," Emily answered. "So if this is a hotel.then where are all the people?" she asked questionably.  
  
"The Hyperion isn't used as a hotel any more. It's the headquarters for an investigation agency that my friends and I run. It comes in handy when we need to store things or stay the night because it's late and no one wants to drive home."  
  
"Oh, I see," Travis said. "So does Jarod work here too?"  
  
"Yes. He worked with us for a few months but then said he had to leave for a while. I think he said he had to go to Delaware to get some stuff from the Centre. Angel tried to talk him out of it but Jarod wouldn't listen. Your son is a very stubborn man, when he wants to be." Wesley stated.  
  
"What reason could Jarod possibly have for going back to that hell-hole?" Emily asked mostly to herself.  
  
Travis grinned because he knew he could answer this one question about Jarod, "Possibly to try to find out more information about himself, you know birthday, age, last name, anything that would give him a clue as to who he really is."  
  
Zoe didn't even want to ask who this "Angel" character was.  
  
Jarod was sitting motionlessly on the bed while Angel was giving him a massage, when Cordelia knocked on the door and walked in, instead of waiting for an answer.  
  
Jarod and Angel's heads shot up and turned to face the door.  
  
"Ummm..just figured I would let you know that your family is here Jarod. They're waiting in the lobby with Wes." Cordelia said slowly, and trying hard not to stare at the two men and the position they were sitting in.  
  
"Okay, thanks Cordy. Tell them I'll be out in a sec." Jarod said all of a sudden getting extremely nervous and scared.  
  
"Ok." she replied as she walked quickly, but quietly, out of the room.  
  
"Scared?" Angel asked hopping to be able to calm down Jarod so he wouldn't just stand there in front of his family having the "deer in the headlights" look.  
  
Jarod thought for a second and then answered, "Petrified! I always knew this day would come. I just thought I would be a little more controlled when it did happen."  
  
"Don't worry. Just go out there and be yourself." Angel said knowing that it wasn't just the thought of the Centre showing up that scared him.  
  
Cordelia walked back down the hallway anxious to see how tonight would unfold.  
  
"He'll be out in a second. He's a little nervous." Cordy said to the group.  
  
"I think we're all a little nervous." Charles said.  
  
Wesley noticed that the only semi-calm one of the whole bunch was Travis.  
  
At that same time, 4 black Lincoln Townecars had pulled up in front of the Hyperion Hotel and a large group of people all dressed in black suits exited them and started heading for the entrance, guns drawn.  
  
"Willie, try to grab one of Jarod's parents, preferably his mother. We can use her to keep the others under control while I sedate and handcuff Jarod. Let me remind all of you that if Jarod and his family escape, some heads will roll." Lyle said turning his head towards Sydney and Miss Parker.  
  
"You can count on us Mr. Lyle," Willie, the head sweeper, told him.  
  
Jarod and Angel had both gotten up and had started the short walk down the hall to the main lobby. All of a sudden, Jarod stopped dead in his tracks and had this worried look on his face.  
  
"Jarod?" Angel said.  
  
"Something's wrong Angel, I can feel it." Jarod told Angel in a manner that wasn't supporting the whole everything-is-going-to-be-fine scenario.  
  
All of a sudden the doors to the hotel opened and eight, fully armed sweepers, came running through the door with Willie in the lead. Lucky for them, Jarod's family had all decided to stand while they waited for Jarod to come out of Angel's room, with Margaret in the back of the group!  
  
Willie grabbed Margaret and put a gun to her head before anyone had a chance to react to the sudden intrusion.  
  
Jarod and Angel came running out into the lobby when they heard Jarod's mother scream.  
  
"Nobody move, or Jarod's mother gets a bullet in the head!" Lyle ordered as he, Ms. Parker and Sydney walked into the lobby.  
  
"Let her go Lyle!" Jarod yelled as him and Angel ran into the lobby from the hallway.  
  
"I would watch what you say Jarod. You wouldn't want your mother to get hurt for something you said now would you." Lyle responded tauntingly.  
  
"Leave my family alone Lyle. This is between you and me." Jarod said somewhat menacingly.  
  
"May I remind you Jarod that you belong to the Centre and we can do whatever the hell we want to do and no one can do a damn thing about it." Lyle said threateningly.  
  
Jarod had begun to walk towards where Lyle was standing. "You wanna bet Lyle." Jarod growled, his eyes turning a deep golden color and his voice getting deeper.  
  
Jarod was finally eye to eye with Lyle, and neither of them was making any indication that either were going to back down any time soon.  
  
"If you lay one finger on me, rest assured, Willie will kill your mother." Lyle said.  
  
"Fine," Jarod replied. Everyone looked astonished at what Jarod had just said. Everyone that is, except Angel. He had an idea of what Jarod was planning on doing. He just didn't know if he should stop him or not.  
  
Jarod had backed up a few feet so he wasn't within arms reach of Lyle. "Fine, I won't lay a finger on you!" And at that moment, Jarod's eyes turned from a deep gold color to solid black and he pointed his hand at Lyle and made a movement with his arm towards the wall. The same time he did that, Lyle was thrown against the same wall that Jarod had pointed at, and no one had touched him.  
  
Everyone was shocked and slightly confused at what just happened.  
  
But Jarod wasn't finished. He turned towards Willie, who had a slightly scared look on his face and started chanting something so low that only Angel could hear it. "Goddess Hecatay work thy will, before thee let the unclean thing crawl!" A golden like ring of circles had formed around Jarod during the chant and when he was done, he thrust his arms in Willies direction and the golden rings engulfed Willie. In a few short seconds, there was a pile of clothes and a squeaking noise coming from where Willie had just stood. Then, out ran a little black rat that scurried past the other sweepers and out the door.  
  
After that, Margaret ran over to her husband and held him tight as she, and everyone else, watched Jarod start making his way toward Lyle, who was still lying on the floor near the wall.  
  
Cordelia looked around and noticed that Angel was standing against the counter unfazed by the whole situation.  
  
"Angel, do something!" Cordy whispered in Angel's direction knowing he would be able to hear her.  
  
But Angel just stood there and looked on as Jarod started to throw Lyle all over the room. People were running to get out of the way of the flying mass.  
  
"Jarod, stop this instant!" Sydney screamed hoping his protégé would listen to him. But the only answer he got was a bloodied body being thrown in his direction.  
  
The body missed Sydney by only a foot and Jarod, slightly disappointed, stalked over to where the body was now laying.  
  
Parker stepped in between Jarod and his intended victim, hoping that what she was about to say would make Jarod stop. "Jarod, leave him alone. If you kill him, the Triumvirate will find you a dangerous liability and personally sign a termination order on you." Parker pleaded.  
  
"Get out of my way Parker!" Jarod ordered. And if looks could kill, he would have put in a new name for the term "over-kill", using Parker!  
  
"No," she said. She immediately regretted her answer as she was shoved into Sydney and two other sweepers.  
  
Lyle tried to get up on his own but was forcefully pulled up by Jarod, who then proceeded to shove Lyle into the nearest wall.  
  
"He Lyle, want me to let you in on a little secret?" Jarod said. It was more of a statement than an actual question. "I'm going to kill you!"  
  
In that instant, Jarod's face changed. His black eyes had become golden once again, but his face now had ridges on them and he had two long fangs in his mouth where his canines should be. When Lyle caught sight of Jarod's face, he wet himself right then and there.  
  
Angel knew Jarod had game-faced and decided to stop him from doing something he would REALLY regret later on. From where he was standing, Angel yelled in a dominant sort-of voice, "That's enough Jarod!"  
  
Jarod turned and look at Angel and when he was about to speak, Angel cut him off. "I said that's enough, CHILDE!" He made sure that he emphasized the word childe, to put Jarod back in his place.  
  
Wesley and Cordelia's mouths both dropped open at the word CHILDE.  
  
"If Angel called Jarod his Childe," Cordy whispered to Wes, "Than that means.." She didn't even have to finish her sentence for Wesley to know what she meant.  
  
"I'm sure Angel will explain everything to us after this is all over." Wes said.  
  
Jarod's face shifted back to its normal human look and he dropped Lyle on the ground.  
  
"Get over here now!" Angel commanded.  
  
Jarod walked slowly over to Angel with his head held high. But when he got to Angel, he looked him right in the eyes and then his head dropped down so he was looking at the floor, a clear sign of submission.  
  
"I want every single one of you to get out of here and never show your fucking faces around here again." Angel said staring at the Centre employees. "And if any one of you goes near Jarod or his family and friends again, I will personally see to it that you die a slow and painful death."  
  
And with that, all of the sweepers started walking out of the Hyperion carrying a beaten and bruised Lyle between them.  
  
"You two stay here." Angel said pointing to Sydney and Ms. Parker. "I want to talk to you two."  
  
"I really think that we should be going back to Blue Cove with the rest of the group," Parker commented. "If we don't come back they may just send more teams here thinking that we were trying to help Jarod."  
  
"I think they got Jarod's message that he wanted the Centre off of his back from now on." Angel informed the brunette.  
  
Margaret and Charles walked over to Angel to get some answers. Margaret was in tears at the little show Jarod had put on and was eager to know how, and why, he did it.  
  
"I want to know what's wrong with our son!" Major Charles exclaimed. "I've seen him before and he has never acted like this. What's happened to him?"  
  
"Don't worry Major, I'll tell you all every thing as soon as I make sure that Jarod is ok." Angel said as he started to walk toward his room where he had sent Jarod.  
  
"Good! Cause I want to know why the hell you called him your childe. Unless you lost your soul sometime in the past few months and started killing people again. Which I'm pretty sure you didn't cause if you did, I'm sure that we would all be dead by now." Cordelia stated in a not so friendly voice.  
  
"Will you knock it off Cordy. He's not my actual childe. And like I told them, I will explain every thing in a few moments. Just let me go talk to Jarod." Angel said hoping that it would make her feel a little bit better about what he had called Jarod. "Now, why don't you all go sit down and wait until I come back and then you can ask all the questions you want. Ok?"  
  
"Ok." Margaret said answering for them all.  
  
They all went and sat down on the floor, couch and anywhere else there was room, and waited for Angel to come back. --------------------------------------------------------  
  
Jarod had gone into Angel's room to wait until he straightened things out in the lobby. He was laying down on Angel's bed staring at the ceiling and thinking about what had just gone on a few moments ago.  
  
"How could I have been so careless?" Jarod asked himself. "I can't believe I lost control like that and let my family see what I really was. I let them see the monster I have become."  
  
Jarod had closed his eyes and was trying to think of an easy way out without hurting anybody. He couldn't understand how things had gotten so out of control so quickly. "AndI thought I had a lot of self control." Jarod thought to himself.  
  
Angel walked in unexpected and it made Jarod jump in surprise.  
  
"I figured I would find you like this," Angel said as he closed the door and began walking towards the bed.  
  
"Did you tell them?" Jarod asked not looking at Angel.  
  
"Not yet. I decided to talk to you first about what happened, and then tell them the whole story." Angel said.  
  
"How did my family react?" Jarod wondered.  
  
"They were confused at first, wondering how and why you did what you did. But after a few minutes of your pummeling of that Lyle guy, they started to get a little scared." Angel explained. "After I stopped you and you left, all of the sweepers left except for Sydney and Ms. Parker, I told them to stay knowing that they both would want an explanation."  
  
Angel paused for a moment to see how Jarod was responding to what he had just said about Sydney and Ms. Parker still being in the hotel. But he didn't get much of a reaction, just a slight nod of the head.  
  
"After they left, Cordy and Wes came up to me yelling about how I called you my childe, and how angry they were with me about killing another human." Angel continued. "I told them that you weren't my real childe and that they would get an explanation soon. Your mother and father came up to me as well, your mother was crying slightly and your father was angry with me, Cordy and Wes. He blamed us for letting this happen to you and how I didn't stop you when you first started throwing Lyle around like a little rag doll."  
  
Jarod looked up at Angel for the first time since he had started talking. "My mother was crying?" Jarod managed to whisper.  
  
"Just a little bit. A few tears were rolling down her face but that was about it." Angel told him.  
  
"Listen, I know how you feel and what you're going through right now. But I just want you to know that it will get better. No one is ever going to forget about this, but they will get over it. And so will you." Angel said trying to make Jarod think of something else other than plunging a sharp wooden object through his chest. "And I also want to tell you that I am sorry. I should've stopped you before you did anything rash, but I didn't. I let my demon think things through instead of my soul. And I never should have called you childe. It's not my place and it never will be. Yes, I am a lot older than you and that does give me dominating rights, but I don't have the right to call you childe. You're actually more like a younger brother to me, and that is the way that I should treat you. Darla sired both of us, and even though she died two weeks after turning you, and I "raised" you after that, I have no more dominating rights over you than some 300-year-old vampire from another clan." Angel informed him.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Angel," Jarod stated, "I kinda like having you as my sire."  
  
"Well, that's a good thing." Angel said.  
  
An uncomfortable silence fell between the two guilt-filled vampires. After a few moments, Angel decided to break the silence.  
  
"So, ready to go out there and fill in the blanks on our little secret?" Angel asked in a sarcastic up-beat voice.  
  
"Sure, why not. I think that us just sitting here is making matters worse out there." Jarod replied feeling a little bit better about the whole situation.  
  
They both got up and started walking towards the door knowing that no matter what explanation they gave, nothing was going to make the day's incident go away.  
  
Jarod and Angel walked out into the lobby and looked at all of the people who were sitting there anxiously awaiting an explanation.  
  
The two men sat down on the arms of one of the chairs and they started explaining the whole situation. From Jarod meeting Darla, to his turning, to Darla's death and Angel taking over Darla's role as Jarod's sire. Angel then told them about how he didn't actually destroy the Gem of Amara and that he had hidden it from everyone. He also told them that the main reason they kept it a secret was so that Jarod's family wouldn't have to deal with the world of vampires and demons while they were still dealing with the world of the Centre.  
  
Jarod also explained that he had been doing magic for quite some time now and that he planned on stopping, so something like what happened today would never happen again.  
  
Everyone listened to what they had to say, then asked the plethora of questions that had built up from, not only today's events, but from the past 30 years.  
  
Jarod's family got the gist of the demon world and how it worked. Everyone then concluded that Lyle and Raines both had to be demons of some sort, which made Parker cringe at the thought of her family being made up of demons (although the thought of having Lyle as a brother and Raines as a father made Parker want to vomit and throw herself off of a cliff anyway so.).  
  
But the person who got the most valuable information was Jarod. That day, he found out that his birthday was January 13, 1958 and that he was 34 years old. He also found out that his full name was Jarod Riley O'Connor, which made things even more interesting since Angel's last name was O'Riley and he had had a friend named Connor.  
  
"Jarod," Zoe said with a big smile on her face, " I have something special that I have to tell you."  
  
Jarod's entire family knew what she was going to tell him and they all started smiling, which made Jarod very nervous.  
  
"What's that?" he asked as he started walking towards her.  
  
"Well, I don't know how to say this but.." she paused for a second.  
  
"What?!" he said thinking it was something bad.  
  
"I'm pregnant!" Zoe said excitedly.  
  
Jarod just stopped in his tracks and stared at her. Parker and Sydney were both shocked, not only had she rendered Jarod speechless, but that also meant that the Centre would stop at nothing to get that baby if they found out about it.  
  
"Jarod?" Zoe said slowly walking up to the stunned man.  
  
"Are. are you sure, I mean. you. you're really. pregnant?" Jarod asked stumbling over his words.  
  
"Yup. You're not angry, are you?" she asked.  
  
"Angry! No. It's just that.WOW. I think this has to be the best day of my entire life, or unlife, or . whatever. This is just so amazing." He grabbed Zoe in an embrace and kissed her passionatly.  
  
"So, who's hungry?" Cordy asked everyone happily.  
  
She was answered by a chorus of "Me"'s and "I am"'s as well as a smile and a rolling of the eyes from both Jarod and Angel. +Monday-8: 30 P.M.+ They all walked in to the courtyard, which was lit only by the light of the moon, seeing as the candles hadn't been lit yet. They talked and they ate (except for Angel since he didn't eat or particularly like human food, unlike Jarod who loved it) and afterward they all went back inside to get a well deserved rest.  
  
Jarod's family stayed at the Hyperion and helped out the AI group by doing research, getting weapons and bandaging up the wounds they usually got after a hard case.  
  
Jarod and Zoe got married two months after the reunion. They had the wedding at the Hyperion since neither Jarod or Angel wanted to set foot into a church, they didn't like the idea of having a big cross hanging in front of them while the happy couple said their vows.  
  
A few months later, Zoe gave birth to twins, one boy and one girl. They named the boy Kyle, after Jarod's brother, and the girl Darla, after Jarod and Angel's sire.  
  
Jarod and Travis handed over the DSA's to the FBI and the Centre was taken down. Every one from the Tower, the Triumvirate and the Centre were all sentenced to life in prison without parole. Sydney, Ms. Parker and Broots just had to pay a fine for involvement with the Centre. It was easily paid off seeing as Jarod hacked into a Centre bank account and used some of the money out of there to pay the fines.  
  
Sydney, Broots, Debbie and Ms. Parker also stayed at the hotel and helped out whenever possible.  
  
With all of Jarod's family back together, and his friends not fighting any more, they all lived happily ever after!  
  
THE END 


End file.
